My Cat Happy
by Chocolate-Flavored Strawberry
Summary: Modern AU. NaLu. Because they shared a cat and neither of them knew.
1. Prologue

**My Cat Happy**

 **Prologue**

A twenty one year old girl buried her face into her palms. A thick book sat idly in front of her with highlighted texts displayed on its pages. She had an important exam the next day, and it didn't help that she decided to omit studying the entire two weeks given and just cram everything in one night. It was already two in the morning and she was still on page two hundred out of seven hundred sixty-three. Her study lamp did a poor job of lighting her reading material, and her pens and papers were on the floor and somehow, in one of her kitchen cupboards. She let out a groan of frustration. It was practically a sure thing that she was going to fail the test.

She stood up and took her jacket, which was strewn messily on her bed, and decided to go out for a smoke outside her apartment building. Living in the city, that wasn't one of her best choices as gangs and rapists usually were on the lookout for young, vulnerable women that were stupid enough to venture into the poorly-funded facilities of the city streets. As she exited her apartment, she smelled the faint lingering scent of marijuana emitting from her perpetually high next door neighbor Charlie. Ignoring it, she went on into the elevator and waited to go down from the fifth floor to the third when it opened again, signaling someone was going to be riding with her.

She never liked it when someone else was alone with her in the elevator, especially at night. The people in her building were either beat up wives, drug addicts, thieves, and she was sure that guy from 32-B was a serial killer. She didn't like it and wished badly to move to a more comfortable space, but since she graduated high school and moved out, she had no choice but to make do with the measly financial aid her school gave her and the minimum-wage job that supported her.

Surprisingly enough, the person that entered the elevator looked neither like a drug addict or a serial killer, but a regular guy. Well, as regular as a guy with pink hair could be. He was holding a box filled with blankets. He grinned brightly at her as he entered and pushed the 'G' button, which proved to be unnecessary as Lucy had already pushed it when she entered.

"Hi," He said. "the name's Natsu. 37-C. You?" Lucy couldn't help but notice that he looked surprisingly well-off with his too-crisp shirt and jeans. Why would he ever move into this type of neighborhood?

"Lucy." She said, after moments of pondering, deciding not to tell a stranger where she lived.

"Well, _Lucy_ ," He said, testing the name out. "Just moved here today from Rhode Island. Actually, I just finished unpacking right now. Was gonna take these," He said, looking down at the box he was holding. "outside to the dumpster. Anyway, I'm having a housewarming pa-" He was cut off by the loud 'Ding' of the elevator, and to be honest, Lucy was grateful for it. She was never really comfortable with meeting new people. "Oh, um, it was nice meeting you, Lucy. I hope I get to see you around."

Lucy nodded vaguely and quickly got out of the building, brisking away from the strange man with the blankets and passing the sleeping receptionist/guard/building manager on the way. She took out her box of cigarettes and lit one, not having the patience to wait until she got down the steps. It was strange. The normal feeling of relief never washed over her as it usually did. Instead she felt a weird mixture of anger, sadness, melancholy, and confusion bubble in her chest. The next thing she knew, hot tears were rolling down her face.

"Shit." She mumbled with the cigarette between her lips. She angrily took the stick and held it between her fingers as she punched the cold, hard street lamp with her left hand. "Fucking shit!"

Her knuckles started bleeding but she didn't care. She kept punching and cursing and crying, not even noticing the half-burnt cigarette that now lay in a puddle and that she was now using both her hands to box the inanimate object. She even started kicking the pole until she felt a soft thing curl up next to her. Instinctively, she let out a yelp, thinking it was a giant rat that crawled out from one of the many sewer holes on the street. It turned out to be a cat. A blue cat. It was sleeping. She grabbed the cat, prepared to throw it to the street in blinded anger towards something she did not know what. As she raised her arms, the cat yawned innocently, rubbing its paw against its face and slowly opening its eyes. It wasn't fair. This stupid cat's dirty and smelled and yet it was much more content that Lucy ever could be. No, she could never hurt something like this. That wasn't her.

She didn't even know what had caused the sudden burst of anger. Perhaps it was seeing someone living a life better than hers, or maybe the stress of school, work, and paying the bills. She didn't know. Even though that may be so, it didn't change the fact that she was angry and sad and lonely and whatever the hell it was that she was feeling in her chest.

"Fucking cat." She lowered her arms and decided that for one night maybe the cat could stay at her apartment. Just one night, she told herself. She went in the building, ignoring the large 'No pets allowed' sign messily written on a piece of paper. After all, nobody ever followed any of the rules the superintendent laid out on each floor. What could one cat do? Besides, there were enough mice in the building to qualify as 'pets'. She evasively dodged the sleeping manager and slipped through the elevator. The cat stunk, but the elevator was much worse. It didn't matter if the cat stayed. No one would notice. She convinced herself.

As she got into the confines of her room, she put the cat down and laid on her thin mattress, not bothering to change. Tomorrow, her hands would be infected and she would probably have to get it checked out. Tomorrow, her apartment is gonna stink after months of trying to rid it of the stenches that managed to seep through from Charlie's apartment. Tomorrow, she's gonna fail her test and most likely will lose the scholarship she worked so hard for. But today, she doesn't give a single fuck and decides to go to sleep.

* * *

 **AU. It's my first time writing one for the fairy tail category. It's kinda short but it's just the prologue. Hey, maybe this could be a one-shot, what do you think? Hm, I'd really like to continue this though. Eh, depends on how I feel. Updates are going to be entirely irregular, from hours, weeks, months, to years. Just saying.**

 **This story was inspired by a post I saw on tumblr. Later.**

 **(Edit: The first few chapters are going to be very, very angst-y but I believe that it's necessary to emphasize Lucy's character development, so I apologize if you got the impression that this story will overall be one big ball of emotional drama since it is, after all, in the angst sub-category. The reason for this is that so far, as of July 15, 2015, it is still fairly angst-y. I'll change it once the tone of the story has calmed down. Thanks for understanding! :3)**


	2. Chapter One: The Music Box

**My Cat Happy**

 **Chapter One: The Music box**

Years ago, before she was even six, Lucy had a music box that her mother gave her. It was made of porcelain and was decorated with roses and a small sculpture of Venus when you opened it. It played Swan Lake by Tschaikovsky. The only way you could open it was by taking a small key, in the guise of a necklace, and twisting it in a small key hole at the side. She loved that music box. She brought it everywhere with her. Her mother wore the necklace while Lucy kept the music box.

On July seventh, about two years later, her mother died. The key to her music box was buried with Layla. It was excruciating for her. She had nightmares and anxiety attacks, but her father wasn't really around to notice. So she lived with the pain - of both living alone in their big fifth avenue apartment, and the loneliness it brought.

As she grew older, the nightmares and attacks stopped to a minimum. She had asked a countless number of times if she could get help from therapist to her father. He always had the same answer: What would the people say?

Her father was the CEO of Heartfilia Enterprises, the leading brand for everything from socks to helicopters. Everybody knew who he was. Everybody's opinions were taken into account. Everybody mattered. Everybody except Lucy.

To cope with the growing insanity in her young mind, she started writing down her feelings in a small journal. She wrote down things about how she felt towards her father and the nightmares she had at night. Of course, the omniscient being her father was, he found out. Whenever they fought with each other, he always said, along with aggressive finger-pointing: "Go ahead! Write in your fucking journal. I know you made me look like the worst person in the world! You disappoint me! From now on, you are no longer my daughter! Never ask anything from me ever again!" It was normally accompanied with slaps.

He always came into her room every night after he said that and told her that she should reflect on what she did and that he didn't regret saying any of his words because he knew for a fact he didn't mean it. At least he knew how she would treat him when he was old and gray, he would always add.

She accepted it as she believed her father was right. And he was to some extent. In most of their fights, Lucy was immature and always aggravated the situation. He never hit her unless he believed that she was wrong. And because of the fact he wasn't normally around, it wasn't a lot.

When she was fifteen, she made up a plan. She started selling her stuff little by little. By Christmas, she managed to save three thousand dollars. She was gonna run away. Unfortunately, her father found out about her stash of money when a maid saw it hidden under Lucy's mattress before she could even pack. He accused her of stealing from his safe and took the money away.

Her nightmares came full force after that. More than once has she considered taking the pills she knew her father was taking for his overused liver. More than once has she tried. More than once has she cowered, thinking that it wasn't worth it.

She told her father that she had thought about killing herself. He didn't react and tried to divert the conversation to something that only made her aggravated. Maybe she said it one too many times, because eventually, he said that she was just trying to get attention and that she could never do it.

He was right.

That was when she wished there was a button she could press to stop herself from existing. Just one push and poof, she's gone.

When she turned eighteen, it was as if a huge boulder was lifted from her chest. Her friend, Mira, had offered for her to live in the apartment she was moving out of. The neighborhood wasn't all that great but the apartment was kept in good condition by Mira. She explained that she was getting married to her lawyer boyfriend, Laxus, and she needed someone to sublet the place. Mira was more than willing to give Lucy the rickety furniture in the apartment. Lucy agreed immediately. Rent was really cheap, and she had gotten herself a job as a swimming trainer at the local gym a month ago which was more than enough to supply her needs until she goes to college.

That night, she told her father about moving out. He was stoic and emotionless. He told her to do whatever she wanted and left for his office. Lucy didn't know this until much later in life that he cried that night.

A week later, she packed her clothes and left. She brought nothing with her save for her music box that could never play again.

* * *

When she got home the day after her long test (which she for sure failed) and ridiculously longer shift at the gym, she broke down in tears to see that her apartment had been ransacked. Her bed, couch and desk were turned over, and her small TV wasn't there anymore. Nothing was. Not even her music box. Not even that stupid cat she took in the night before.

For the rest of the night, Lucy laid on her back in the middle of her misplaced room, sweaty with tear stains on her cheeks, sniffling as she forced herself to sleep.

Normal people would have called the police by now. Normal people would have given up and went back to the comforts of living wealth. Normal people would have at least gotten angry. But Lucy wasn't a normal person. She was hiccupping on the floor, pathetic and restless.

That night, she dreamed of being next to the fireplace at her father's apartment. She was a little kid again and her mother was knitting a pink sweater for her while the music box was playing on the table beside the chair Layla was sitting on. Lucy was humming along and Layla soon joined after. They both started dancing around the room in a pseudo-ballet fashion. Then the image blurred and Lucy was transported to a place with red snow. It was freezing but there were May flowers sprouting everywhere on the snow. She was wearing nothing but a bathrobe and she was her normal self. The wind was cutting her cheeks and blood soon dripped out but before it fell on the snow, a young man appeared and took her hand. Lucy woke up after that to a throbbing head and a cat licking her face at one AM.

The cat was back. But it seemed different. It was wearing a red collar. Had someone claimed her cat while it was out?

She helped herself to sit up and winced when her muscles started to play kick-the-bitch-in-the-balls. She brought the cat closer and read: Happy. How appropriate to her lovely situation.

"So you're name's Happy, huh?" She said.

Happy started squirming and clawing Lucy in the uncomfortable way she was holding him. She let go, and stood up.

Her apartment looked like a hurricane passed through it and then came back after realizing it hadn't messed it up enough.

She sighed and decided to start cleaning after eating. She opened the fridge and her heart sunk to her toes. God, even her fridge was ransacked. She barely had enough money in her bank account to buy a candy bar. She weaved her fingers through her hair.

"Fuck!" She yelled angrily.

She angrily stomped to her desk, and took her bag, and left. She didn't even bother locking her door since she didn't have anything left to steal anyway, leaving Happy to walk freely in and out of the apartment. The usual putrid mixture of weed, burnt garlic, and pure evil that would normally have bothered her seemed heavenly in her for sure insane state of mind. She went to the elevator and pressed G. She was pissed.

The elevator doors opened with a _Ding_ and she walked out quickly. She hailed a cab and asked to go to Fairy Tail, a pub near enough to walk but dangerous enough to take a cab.

As she neared, she heard the loud crashing, singing, and rowdiness of the pub. It wasn't really a pub, per se. It was more of... a club. There was a bouncer, a manager, bartenders, music, and booths. Most people don't know this but at the back is a secret room where only a few VIP people could go in. It was much quieter and much cleaner. The only reason she was VIP was because Mira was a barmaid and Lucy would always come by to visit that the owner decided that Lucy was an official member of the 'super secret society' for no charge. Lucy accepted, but only because the food was free and she was always broke.

She got out, paid for the ride (in coins as it was the only thing she had in her wallet), and went to the front. She nodded at Elfman, the bouncer, as she passed the line of people complaining about her being able to enter. Immediately, the pounding of the loud party music hurt her ears, and the smoke from people's cigarettes and smoke machines were hurting her eyes. She slipped through the crowd of skimpy clothing and pervy hands in skill. She had done it many times before. That was when she realized she was still wearing just a royal blue jersey shirt and a pair of jeans that came free with the job at the gym. She felt ridiculously under dressed.

She swiped her card to access the back room, and entered easily. Her whole body shivered in relief. The walls were lined with red velvet, and it was decorated gracefully with flowers and black mahogany tables. There was a large mirror on the wall to her right with intricate designs. She took her shoes off and held them in her left hand. She didn't want to track dirt on the carpet.

"Hey, Mira." She said, sitting on the stool where Mira was tending and placing her shoes on the chair next to her.

"Hey, what can I get ya'?" Mira replied smiling softly, handing her a glass of water.

"Food. Lots. My apartment got broken into and the bastard took all my food." She muttered into the rim of her glass.

"Oh my gosh. Did you call the police?" Mira asked, taking a large slice of lemon pie for Lucy.

"Should've done that, shouldn't have I?" She shrugged.

"God, Lucy, you have to call the police!" Mira exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter. Nothing valu..." She trailed off as she thought of her mother's gift.

"Lucy?"

"It's fine okay?" She said, eating her food.

Mira sighed. Lucy had a bad habit of being too tough at the wrong times.

"Gray, you bastard, get your ass back here!" They turned their heads to the door and saw two people hitting each other.

"I'm not going anywhere, fucktard!"

"Don't mind them. The guy fighting with Gray is Jii-sama's grandson, Natsu." Mira explained.

"Natsu? Does he live in my building?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah. He just moved yesterday. Did you meet him?"

"Uhuh. We met in the elevator when I went out for a smoke. By the way, that really important test I had, pretty sure I bombed it, badly." Lucy finished her pie, and wiped off the crumbs with her napkin. "Thanks for the food. I have to go back to clean up."

She took her shoes and made her way out, avoiding the fight going on. She hoped to slip sneakily without having Natsu make awkward, not to mention unnecessary, small talk with her. Much to her chagrin, he was just about to punch Gray in the nose when he noticed her.

"Oh, hi. Lucy ri-" He was cut off by Gray kicking his torso.

"Dude, time out!" Natsu said, steadying himself. "Hi, Lucy. How are you?"

"You know this guy, Luce?" Gray asked, standing between them.

"Um, yeah, he moved in my apartment building yesterday. We met in the elevator." Lucy said, fidgeting.

"That's right. Fancy meeting you here." Natsu said. "My grandpa owns the place."

"I heard."

"This guy," Gray said, elbowing Natsu's side in belligerent affection. "went to school in fucking England for four years. Now he thinks he's better than us cause he has an excuse to fake a British accent."

"You wanna go, you bastard?"

"Oh, yeah, boy!"

The two started wrestling again, and Lucy took this distraction as an opportunity to slip out. She put on her shoes halfway and quickly went through the crowd, exiting the club while struggling to properly put her shoes on.

She realized that she had absolutely no money left for a cab. She let out an exasperated sigh. Sure, let a bastard rape her, Jesus. She reached in her bag and fished out her pepper spray and rape whistle (which was on one key ring). She started walking home on the empty road. She felt anxious walking down this road. It was probably horrible planning to walk alone on this road. As she heard her footsteps patter on the ground, the hairs at the back of her neck stood up. It was freezing that was for sure, and the jersey was paper thin.

When she felt a hand yank her shoulder, she let out a loud gasp. She sprayed her pepper spray and blew her rape whistle.

"Ow, fuck!"

"Natsu?"

"Yeah, ow!" He cursed.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" She apologized. "Why would you scare me like that anyway?"

"I thought it would be funny." He said, having the burning subside. "It's a good thing you didn't actually hit my eye. It could have been much worse."

"What did you want?" She asked.

"I just wanted to ask if you needed a ride home. It's dangerous to go out at," He paused and looked at his watch, squinting the eye Lucy almost hit. "two thirty in the morning alone."

"I'm fine. It's close by." She didn't want to admit that she didn't have any money.

"Still. Please let me take you home?" He asked.

"Ah, no I'm good. I just want to walk."

"Then I'll walk with you. Just hold on, I have to get my stuff from the car." He said, running quickly to the club's parking lot.

She stood patiently waiting with her arms crossed. He came back with a box of kibble and cat toys.

"You have a cat?" She asked as they started walking.

"Yeah, but he likes to run around a lot so I don't really know whether he's at home or not."

"That's cool."

"What about you? Have any pets?" He asked.

She pondered for a moment to decide whether Happy was her pet or not. "Not really a pet. More of an occasional visitor." She said.

"Cool. Cat, dog, mouse, or what?" He asked.

"Well, he's a cat, but I'm more of a dog person than a cat." She said.

"I tried having a dog when I was like seven. His name was Georgie. He was a lab. Didn't like it much since he seemed to think that my and my dad's shoes were gourmet dishes." He chuckled.

"I did, too. Not really sure what breed it was. It was so weird we couldn't figure out if it was a boy or girl. It's name's Plue. I had to leave it behind at my dad's house." She said, saying the last part a little softer.

"Why?" He asked.

"Well, reasons. What about you? Why did you move in that crappy building?" She asked.

"I don't think it's crappy. I actually think it's kind of exciting to live in. You know that guy from 32-B has a rad knife collection. He showed me how to make sushi earlier today." He said happily.

Lucy giggled at this. The guy from 32-B was for sure a serial killer. She didn't know why she found his story amusing, but the way he said it amused her so.

"That's nice. You said you were from Rhode Island yesterday. How'd you get there?" She asked.

"Where?"

"In England."

"Well, you see, my dad had a midlife crisis, and he couldn't seem to stay in one place. So, he dragged me around all through my Senior year before decided to just send me to England for college. I came back and found out he was in Rhode Island so I stayed there secretly because Gramps would have insisted on going over there and he and Pops had a falling out." He explained. "Plus, he doesn't tell people this put he has a really weak lung capacity. A plane ride over there would have killed him."

Lucy nodded at the information. "Well, what school did you go to while you were in England?"

"Okay, this is a secret so you can't tell anybody, okay?" He said seriously.

She cocked her head to the side and turned around to start walking backwards to face him.

"I never went to any school in England." He said sadly. "I had a girlfriend that I stayed with for four years over there. I just told them I was studying engineering so they'd leave me alone."

"Had?"

For a moment, he looked sad. "Yeah, had. Anyway, what about you? Do you go to school?"

"Uh," she felt him divert the conversation. "yeah. I'm studying journalism at Brookstone U."

"Nice. The 'rents must be loaded, huh?" He said.

"Um, sure, but I live off a scholarship." She said, using the same tone he used when he was talking about his girlfriend.

For a long while the two walked in silence enjoying each other's company. Lucy, for the whole while of the walk, had forgotten the whole ordeal she had to go through today, and Natsu, who was a little antsy about asking to walk her home at first, was glad that he did.

"Oh, look, we're here." He said as the familiar mossy steps came into view.

They got up the stairs and with Natsu holding the door for her, Lucy entered.

"The manager always seems to be asleep, huh?" He said, chuckling.

"That's Midnight for you. C'mon."

They entered the elevator together with Natsu pushing three and Lucy pushing five.

"I didn't get a chance to tell you yesterday, but I'm having a housewarming party on Wednesday. I'll send you an invite, okay?" He said.

The elevator opened to the third floor and Natsu got out.

"Yeah, okay." She said. "Good night."

He smiled and the doors closed, leaving Lucy feeling stupid since he had no idea where she lived.

* * *

 **AND END (of chapter). And that my friends, was the first official chapter of My Cat Happy. Hope you enjoyed! I worked really hard and poured out my feelings into this. I really do hope it's evident. Please remember to leave a fave, follow, and review! Next chapter shall be up indefinitely. Byeee.**

 **\\(^_^)/**


	3. Chapter Two: Blue Shoes

**My Cat Happy**

 **Chapter Two: Blue Shoes**

Lucy was never one to appreciate companionship. This was because growing up in a lonely house made her void of the emotion loneliness. Even at school, when all the other girls went out to go to movies after school, or when they grouped up for projects, she was always left out. At first she used to cry to her governess, Aquarius, about it, but after years of hearing that she was being a brat and the regularity of those instances, she stopped thinking about it and just went with the flow. It wasn't until she met Cana that she truly felt that she had what most people would call a _friend._

They met at a strip club on Lucy's fifteenth birthday. She was wandering aimlessly with five hundred dollars in her pocket. Her father had to go to Sweden for the week for a business trip and had left her the cash to celebrate it with her friends (which she did not have). She hadn't realized that she had reached the shady part of the town until a drunk, half naked Cana threw an arm around her shoulders and started yelling in her ear about having a good time at the entrance of Oil and Sugar, a notorious strip joint that allegedly provided "VIP" treatments for extra cash.

She was immediately disgusted since she thought that Cana was a stripper herself, until her father, Gildarts, grabbed her arm and yelled at her for being indecent to a stranger (and for being drunk, but her father didn't seem to have put too much emphasis on the subject. She guessed it was a slightly normal occurrence). Cana had yelled back saying that Lucy was a friend from high school, which didn't really work since Lucy was still wearing her school uniform. Gildarts seemed to have been won over by her saying it sweetly and told Cana to be home by seven and left to go inside the strip club.

"How much cash do you have?" She had asked menacingly. Lucy, frightened, said she had enough. After a few seconds of trying to un-blur her vision and analyze what Lucy looked like, she grinned like a Cheshire cat and grabbed Lucy's wrist. "What's your name?" She asked, pulling Lucy inside the building of what Jude would have called volatile and degrading.

"Lucy." She muttered nervously.

Thinking about how they met only hurt her head. In all honesty, she couldn't remember a single thing from that night. It was the first time she had ever touched alcohol, save for the time when she accidentally ate rum cake at her parents' fifth anniversary. She only remembered having so much fun that she always found herself straying to the red light district to visit her new found friend Cana, who had officially decided that meeting up with her fifteen year old friend at the outside of a (practically) brothel was not okay, and showed her the backroom of Club Fairy Tail.

The first time she stepped foot to Fairy Tail, almost all of the members were there. For being either wealthy businessmen or the offspring of one, they never observed proper conduct and manners once they felt the velvet of the backroom. Everybody fought with everybody for reasons that were not worth fighting over. Lucy had guessed that this was because of the stress that society, family, and other factors pushed on to them.

Cana was pushed to alcoholism at such a young age because of the second reason. Much like her, Cana had lost her mother to a loan shark that never got his money back when she was thirteen. She was passed around until she was seventeen when they had finally found her father. Her rich, lawyer father that was well known through ads and news headlines. She had picked up a drink or two from the influences she was exposed to during her adolescence. Of course, her father had absolutely no idea he even conceived in the first place and was surprised when he found out that his ex-wife (they had drunkenly gotten married in Vegas after years of sexual tension) had died and, before that, had given him a precious daughter.

He had grown overprotective. She was the only remnant of his childhood best friend, and he be damned if anything were to happen to her.

Lucy always found his fatherly overprotection as adorable and often thought of her own father and how much she wished he would show the same enthusiasm in raising her. She knew it was something she could only dream about but she was fine, she always reminded herself.

On Cana's twentieth birthday, she left. Or more appropriately, she disappeared as if her existence had been wiped off from the earth. Lucy was only seventeen at that time and they had been friends for two years. She had gotten Cana a pair of blue shoes since the latter had been dropping hints of a new pair for the previous weeks before her departure.

She never got the chance to give her the shoes because she had gone and left Lucy behind. She had a period of desperation and clawed through every single person that knew her to know where her friend had left. She only stopped when she encountered Gildarts one night, serious and void of his usual cutesy demeanor. He was not sad or angry, nor was he completely stoic. He was just serious like how he seemed to be whenever he was featured on the news for winning another case. He told her that Cana had left in the middle of the night leaving a note that said that she would be going on a trip and not to find her.

So Lucy waited. And waited. And waited. She waited for Cana to come back but she never did.

Next thing you know, Lucy's graduated and the only thing that drove her to continue trying to make it in the real world were the blue shoes that sat unused in a gift bag at the farthest corners of her closet—a reminder that somewhere in the world, she has one true friend that will come back someday.

She was lucky enough that a couple of her clothes had been spared and had it not been for the ripped up paper bag it was hidden in, the shoes would have been taken, too. Which reminded her, she still had to call the police and report a burglary. Yet another thing to add to her list of things to do. The cat wasn't of much help either. Happy had managed to scratch up her furniture and break glasses all over so she had to clean up her entire apartment so early in the morning without getting much sleep.

Lucy muttered the things she had listed in her mind out loud as she brisked through the city streets early morning. The first thing that she planned to do was get to try to convince her boss to give her a raise to cover some things that she lost. The second thing was to find something to give to Natsu as a housewarming present. She thought it was only polite after accidentally spraying him with pepper spray, thinking that he was a rapist. The third thing was to pawn some of the jewelry she was wearing to Fairy Tail the night of the robbery (which included some antique keys that she used as keychains).

At some point during the short amount of time she had slept, it had rained noticeably on the large puddles everywhere and the exceptionally chilly weather, not minding the fact that it was nearly the end of spring.

The thickest of the clothes that had been spared were some of her ugliest. The only thing that she deemed decent enough was an army green hoodie that was a little small on her and leggings that had a tiny, barely obvious hole in the inner calf. She wore her old trainers from when she first moved out (and had not worn in years, but thanks to the thief, she has the honors of wearing its uncomfortable glory) and kept her hair in a neat ponytail. She hadn't taken the time to really fix herself up and opted not to wear her contacts or any sort of make-up, and instead wore her circular glasses that she only wore when she was at home.

Other people that were crazy enough to go on morning bike rides cycled past her, careful not to splash her with the puddles as she picked up her pace, wanting to get out of the cold as fast as possible.

She got to the gym and entered to her boss' office.

 **-o-**

Lucy couldn't believe she got fired. Somehow, while asking for a tiny increase on her wages, her boss had managed to find a way to twist her words into something offensive towards him, the company, and his family. All she said was, "Hi, Mr. Sander. I know this is really sudden, but my apartment got robbed yesterday. I'm having so much trouble with school and trying to pay the bills, so I was wondering if I could maybe have a small increase in my salary?" He had somehow interpreted her words into being so offensive when she had been perfectly polite.

She took out her phone and looked online on how much was left on her bank account.

 _'$132.00 available funds'_

'Minus the bills that's about two dollars. Minus food that's about negative twenty-seven. Minus the books for school that's about what's the point in calculating? I'm poor.' Lucy thought negatively. 'Guess Natsu'll probably have to live without a present from me this time.'

During her whole ordeal, Lucy hadn't thought about calling her father once. Calling her father meant admitting that she was incapable of taking care of herself (though she managed perfectly for the past three and a half years). Calling her father meant that she was weak. Calling her father meant that everything she had built up for herself was useless.

She sat on the nearest bench she saw and let out a large sigh. She suppressed the urge to cry and tried to motivate herself to keep going.

'I heard that the bakery near Fairy Tail's looking for somebody. Maybe I can go there.' She thought looking at the sky. She distracted herself by looking at the birds as they flew by her, chirping happily. 'Stupid birds. Stupid people. Other species don't have to deal with things like rent or legality. Only humans decided to fuck everything up by making laws.'

She felt the seat next to her vibrate, signaling that someone had sat next to her. She looked to her right and saw that an old lady had occupied the previously empty spot. She was wearing a peculiar hat with different colored feathers attached to both sides of it. She was wearing a red silk coat with a fur lining at its edges (and looked more like a carpet than a coat). She was holding a cane as she watched runners and different people walk by.

Lucy and the old lady sat in awkward silence, more so for Lucy than the lady since the latter had been too busy people watching to notice Lucy's stare.

"Yah' lost yah' job." The woman said suddenly.

Lucy was surprised at the statement and the creepiness that laced her accented voice as she said the observation. She let out a hum to let the woman know that she had heard her speak.

"Yah' dunno know what to do. Yah' have naw way to pay the bills and yah' have no direction in lahf." The older lady continued grimly.

"Um…" Lucy mumbled. The woman looked at Lucy without turning her body.

"Dun' worry, Darlin'. Ah've been through all of that." She said, reaching out a hand to Lucy. "Look at me now. Ah'm a millian'er!"

Lucy felt compelled to inch away from the crazy, (possibly) homeless lady. She gripped the envelope between her fingers that contained her final paycheck. She let out a sigh and gave it to the woman. She probably needed it more than Lucy. The woman stared strangely at the envelope before taking it and peeking inside. Her eyes grew in surprise as she realized that there was a thin stack of bills inside. Before the woman could protest, Lucy had already stood up and went on her way to the pawnshop.

As she walked, her mind started formulating situations in which she would get kicked out, or lose her scholarship, or even getting murdered. She would have to live in the streets and beg. Maybe sell her body. The thought sent chills down her spine. No, if worst comes to worst, she would have to go to her father and ask for help, even if she didn't want to.

She reached the pawnshop, and reluctantly handed her jewelry to the woman in charge. In return she gave Lucy five hundred, thirty-three dollars. It was enough to pay for rent and food, maybe some books that were stolen along with her other stuff for school. She could breathe a little.

Next stop was the police station. When she reported it to the woman in charge, she was given a curious look and asked why she hadn't reported it right away. Being an almost graduate in journalism, Lucy had a good idea on how police function and how they prove the credibility of a witness, so she told the truth—that she had a mental breakdown from everything that she had to go through. The woman seemed stoic and expressionless, but she nodded and typed something in the computer. Lucy signed some things, and she was told to talk with an officer at his desk.

Surprisingly, the officer was about her age, maybe a little older. He was attractive. Dark brown hair and blue eyes. If Lucy wasn't so distracted, she would have felt conscious of her attire. It didn't matter either way. The gold band on his left ring finger glimmered brightly in the light.

The officer introduced himself as Max Edison. He explained to her the procedures and the things they were going to do to find the culprit. She was asked about the things missing and if she already filed for insurance. Feeling stupid and embarrassed, she shook her head. She had completely forgotten about insurance. Max hummed in response and wrote down some things in a notepad. After some more questions, Lucy left.

She took out her phone and called her insurance company. They said that they would send someone over to inspect her house in the oncoming weekend. She discussed some details and what she needed to do before they hung up. After everything she had managed to accomplish, Lucy felt much better that she was finally working out everything in her life, choosing to forget that she had just been dismissed from her job. She decided to go to Fairy Tail to eat something as a celebratory meal, and go back to her apartment to study.

When she got there, it was so much quieter than how it had been the night before. There were only one or two cars parked in front, and Elfman wasn't on guard. The bar wasn't really open until seven, which was when most people started coming. During the time they weren't there, Kinana and other employees usually cleaned up and made sure everything was ready, so all she had to do was knock.

She got to the door, knocked, and waited for someone to open the door for her. The weather was starting to get warmer so she removed her hoodie, exposing a band shirt she kept in her locker at the gym. To her surprise, Natsu was the one who opened the door for her. He was holding a broom and had dust all over his face.

"Hey, Lucy," He said smiling at her, "come on in. I was just cleaning up some stuff."

She nodded and entered the building. It was weird looking at it. Without all the people from last night, you could actually see the hardwood floors and the stained-glass windows. He seemed to be working alone since it was only the two of them in the room. She felt awkward standing and watching Natsu as he cleaned while she did nothing.

"Where is everybody?" She asked, deciding on taking a rag and helping him clean up. She went to the bar and started wiping the counters.

"Well, it's only ten. Everybody usually comes at around noon. I came early just to see what I'm gonna be working with when Gramps finally decides on handing this place over to me," He said. Lucy felt stupid again for what seemed to be the millionth time that day for not being aware of what time it was. "Why did you come so early? Did you leave something?"

Lucy felt embarrassed about saying that the only reason she came over was to get a free meal. Her face started growing a pink tint, and she couldn't find it in her voice to say something. She felt ashamed that Natsu had everything, while she had nothing. Instead she just nodded her head, not knowing what else to do.

"Oh, well, if you want I can help you find it," He said, stopping his sweeping. He came up to her and perched the broom against the counters. "Where did you last leave it?"

"Uh, I don't know. Maybe it's back home for all I know. I'm not sure. Don't worry about it." She said, lowering her head so he doesn't see her face.

"Well, since you're already here, how about I cook you some early lunch? I'm not too shabby at cooking." He said, flashing her a large grin.

"It's okay. I think I should go anyway. I have stuff to do."

"Oh, come on. I make a mean spaghetti. It'll only take an hour I promise." He said, convincing her.

"Alright, an hour," She said. "By the way, how's your face?"

"My face?" He stopped and thought. "You mean the pepper spray to my almost eye? Don't sweat it. I've been through so much worse." He reassured her.

The two walked to the back room. Lucy sat on one of the stools while Natsu went to the kitchen. It felt odd, yet comfortable being in the back room without Mira, or Wakaba, or everybody lounging around, fighting or gambling. It felt nice having the room to herself.

"So, what were you up to today?" Natsu asked, his voice echoing from the kitchen to the bar.

Lucy thought if she should tell him that she had been robbed, but decided against it, not wanting to scare him about the building they lived in. She thought that he did sort of had the right to know about his safety, so she changed her mind.

"Well, my house got broken into yesterday," She said. "I went to the police to report it."

"Seriously?" He exclaimed.

"Yeah. You should know that that building isn't particularly the nicest to live in."

"That's unfortunate. Damn, I only moved in like two days ago."

"Speaking of which, why did you decide to move to that neighborhood?" Lucy asked, taking her phone out to look for some jobs she could do. "You couldn't have possibly not known that it was a really crappy neighborhood."

Natsu was quiet for a while. "It's close to Fairy Tail. If I could, I would have moved in here. I wanted to be close to it."

Lucy could feel the gentleness in his voice. He seemed to really love Fairy Tail. Lucy hummed in response and continued flipping through her phone until she saw the perfect job for her. It was a nanny job to a little girl named Wendy, and it was close to her University. Plus the pay was really good, and the hours were compatible with her school schedule, which gave her enough time to study, work, and go to school.

Excited, she clicked on the ad and called up the number at the bottom. A stern voice answered the phone.

"Hello?" It was a woman's voice, but it was hard and annoyed.

"Hello. My name is Lucy, and I saw your ad for a nanny. I was wondering if I could apply for the job." She asked as polite as she could.

"Have you ever worked with children before?"

"No, but—"

"Do you know how to cook meals for a child?"

"Well—"

"Do you know how and when to pick up a six year old girl to and from school?"

"Ma'am—"

"How could you possibly think that with qualifications like yours that I can entrust you with the child of the most successful real estate agent in the country? Good day." And the line went dead.

Lucy felt dejected. She had been rejected in a conversation that lasted twenty seconds. The woman on the phone didn't even seem to have actually given her a chance. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She continued scrolling on, until she got a call from the same woman.

"Hello?" She said, feeling hesitation in her speech.

"Hello. I'm sorry about Porly. My name's Wendy. What's yours?" Instead of the dreadful woman, a sweet voice of a child answered.

"Oh, uh, hello. My name's Lucy. "

"Hi, Lucy. Porly is just being a meanie, don't worry about her. Mommy says that I get to pick my nanny if I like her or not."

 _Porly?_ "Well, um, I don't think Porly would like you talking to strangers."

"You're not a stranger. You're Lucy and I'm Wendy. I thought we esta-esta—" She stumbled, "established that. And I like you, Lucy. Don't worry. I'll tell Mommy all about you and you can come and be my nanny."

"Thank you, Wendy. I really appreciate that." Lucy said, hope bubbling in her chest.

They said their goodbyes, and Lucy was left with a giant grin on her face. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't notice Natsu sit next to her and served her a plate of spaghetti.

"You're looking for a job?" He asked, pouring her a glass of water from the pitcher he brought.

"Yeah. I think I just found one." She answered happily.

"That's great!" He said.

Lucy was about to eat with her fork, when Natsu suddenly started using his hands to eat his own plate of food.

"What?" He said, mouth full of food. "It tastes a lot better if you eat with your hands."

Lucy couldn't help but laugh at his childishness. Maybe this could be her first experience with children. She dropped her fork and followed in his lead, eating with her hands. They talked for three hours before employees started to come in. By that time, they both had spaghetti sauce all over their faces, hands, and clothes.

She still couldn't believe her luck. It was almost unbelievable. She had to be careful though. Life had a way of fucking things up for her, so she had to be careful about what she does. It had a thing with giving her all these wonderful things and taking them away right before she could truly appreciate it. But that didn't matter for now. For now, things are going well, and she's happy.

* * *

 **Hello, Old Friend. It's been a while. Two months to be exact. I know what your thinking: _What the fuck is this story doing in my alerts/favourites?_ or whatnot, because you've probably forgotten all about it by now. I'm sorry, okay? I got really busy. I write chapters based on my moods and things that I'm currently experiencing so you can tell by the last chapter that it was kind of depressing because in real life I had a couple of really bad stuff going on. Now, I feel a lot better since I don't have to deal with the stress of finals and school and moving and assholes anymore. IT'S SUMMER! So I am very much happy about that.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and remember to Follow/Favourite this story and leave a review if you liked it!**

 **Toodles! :)**


	4. Chapter Three: Knit Sweater

**My Cat Happy**

 **Chapter Three: Knit Sweater**

As a child, Lucy had learned to never expect anything from her father's promises. The first couple of times it was a blow to her innocent self, but she eventually got used to it. Her mom was always there to be with her and make up for everything that her father couldn't do. She would always make it better.

On her sixth birthday, her mother threw her a grand party to distract her from the fact that Jude had to go to Taiwan for a business trip. There was a big cake, and every kid from her kindergarten was there. She had a mountain of presents, and Layla had gotten her a new bike. There were games and food, and it was a perfectly happy. Lucy had to admit that she didn't think of her father the entire day. She had fun with her classmates and cousins, and her mother did a very good job at distracting her. That night, her father called and Lucy was immediately reminded that she was one parent short. He promised to teach her how to ride a bike to make up for missing her birthday, which made Lucy sad and hopeful at the same time.

At that point, she had already had six years of experience, so she should have known better that her father would find an excuse to completely omit his promises.

He had come back, and his excuse that time was that he was tired and that he had no time to spend time with Lucy. Lucy had cried and Layla had to sooth her daughter to sleep by reading her stories about wizards and dragons. She and her husband got into a big fight that night that resulted in Jude leaving the house at two AM to go to his office. Working had always cooled him off.

Thinking back at it now, Lucy actually felt grateful for her father not being there, the more she thought of it. If he had been around as much as she had wished he had as a kid, her parents probably would have gotten divorced before her mom died. At least she was able to say that she had a family for a few years before everything went downhill (as if it wasn't already six feet under before) and that was more than what most people could ask for.

Lucy was careful to not stretch the fabric of her knit pink sweater. She managed to get a little extra from the pawn money after paying for everything she needed, and decided to get a few clothes that actually looked presentable. She went to the thrift store for anything good, and found the sweater hanging on the rack with a price tag that read $4.00. It was gorgeous and cheap, two adjectives that describe clothing that all women want. She bought it almost immediately along with a couple of shirts and a pair of jeans.

It was Wednesday, and she was getting ready for Natsu's party (although admittedly, she was slightly frightened at the thought of going to a party filled with people from her building; especially people from the second floor, knowing how much Natsu's fond of _that_ guy). After everything that had happened, Lucy managed to sort through everything one at a time. She even managed to buy a cake from a bakery she knew that served the best in the whole country.

Humming to herself a Mentos commercial song, she danced around in her apartment, feeling unusually happy. Happy (the cat) was walking around her feet as she jumped up and down, looking curiously at the giddiness she displayed before deciding to curl up in her bed and sleep. She brushed her hair and put on her make up, made sure that the extra four locks she had installed were sealed, then left to the third floor. As she got closer to Natsu's apartment, the echoing of loud music and loud people reached her ears. She held the cake a bit tighter as she knocked on the door. To her surprise, it wasn't Natsu who opened the door, but Makarov, the (unusually short) owner of Fairy Tail. She was actually surprised at herself for remembering him since she had only ever seen him a couple of times over the years. He had a droopy look on his face and his cheeks were flushed.

"Oh! Look who we have here. Come in, come in," He said, pulling Lucy inside. "We were just about to play kiss-the-girl-who-entered-last game, and it seems to be my turn!" Makarov puckered his lips and leaned over to Lucy. Lucy laughed and decided to humor him. She planted a light peck on his cheek and went on her way to the kitchen to set the cake. As she did so, she heard Makarov singing loudly, "She did it! Hohoho. I still got it, I still got it."

She said hi to some of the people she knew and made small talk. She saw some of the employees from Fairy Tail and some people she occasionally saw at the lobby of their building, but no one she really wanted to talk to. She saw Mira and Laxus, but they seemed to be too engrossed in their conversation, and Kinana and her boyfriend Erik, but they, too, seemed to be busy talking to people about Kinana's bulging stomach.

When she got into the kitchen, there was six times the amount of people fooling around than there were in the living room. It reeked of sex and sweat so much that she couldn't help but cover her nose with her sleeve. She wondered how all these people could fit into such a tiny apartment. She decided to look for Natsu, dodging passes and attempts to grab her. She navigated her way to a bedroom and was quite surprised to see him heavily making out with a blue haired girl. She rolled her eyes and coughed to catch their attention.

Natsu looked up and saw Lucy. He absent-mindedly pushed the girl off, receiving an annoyed glare at him, and went up to Lucy. She could tell that he had drunk one too many cans of beer from the way his breath and clothes smelled. He had a ridiculously large grin on his face.

"Lucy! You made it. Awesome," He said, hugging her. She was slightly taken aback but immediately regained her composure. She pushed him off and poked his side. "I was just talking to… uh…" He paused, raking his mind for the name of the girl her was being intimate with.

"Sorry, what's your name again?" He asked the girl, who was putting her clothes back on. She didn't seem to care, or didn't hear his question because she just ignored him and laced up her boots.

"Anyway," He said, laughing loudly out of place. "You look great. Do you want a drink? Did you eat anything yet? I'm sure there're still some tacos in the fridge or something but, hey, it's probably gone because the people here seem to like alcohol and eating random things random strangers offer to them, which you shouldn't do because there could be drugs or poison or something in the food that could kill them or something, and don't get me started on—" Natsu started rambling on and on about food and drugs, that Lucy just drowned him out and watched the girl finish dressing and slip through the doorway. She seemed oddly familiar to Lucy, but she couldn't pinpoint from where she knew the girl.

"—because, seriously, one of these days, someone is going to get hurt, and who's going to help them? No one! Because everybody is too fucking distracted by money and politics—"

"Natsu, shut up." She said, putting her hand over his mouth. She jerked back in surprise when she felt a small pain on her hand and realized that Natsu had bit her.

"What the fuck, Natsu? Are you a four year old or something?" She yelled angrily as she realized it was bleeding slightly.

Natsu only stuck out his tongue in response. She let out an aggravated tsk and flicked the middle of his forehead.

"Ow! That was so much worse!" He exclaimed, nursing his forehead. Stomping his feet like a child as he whined and complained about his forehead.

"Suck it up! I'm bleeding here," She said, shooting him an angry sideways glance. She was once again surprised when Natsu took her hand and started licking the blood where he bit. Her cheeks flushed in the strangeness of the act.

"What? You're a vampire now?" She exclaimed, taking her hand away from his clutches and flicking his forehead again.

"I was trying to help! Jesus, why do you have to always resort to violence," He whined, crocodile tears coming out of his eyes.

"You are _so_ drunk. Go to bed!" She barked.

"But I'm hungry. The food probably has drugs or poison or something that might kill me and I don't want to die, Lucy! I'm only twenty-three; I'm too young and handsome for the world to be deprived of a Natsu Dragneel." He reasoned childishly.

"I brought cake with me; just go eat that!"

"It's probably all gone by now!"

Lucy muttered profanities under her breath as she marched to the kitchen, determined to stop Natsu's complaining. When she got there, he was right, but not because it was eaten. At some point in the ten minutes since she had left the cake on the counter, a man she recognized as Loke from Fairy Tail had managed to convince some (very intoxicated) women to strip, rub cake all over their bodies, and have a friendly wrestling match in the middle of the kitchen.

She could feel a headache from the amount of bodies squishing against her, and went back to Natsu. He was sitting patiently on his bed, eyes watery as if he were to cry at any moment, and attention completely to his TV. She cocked an eyebrow and got closer to see that he was watching a Spanish soap opera.

" _Yo confie en ti!"_ The female lead exclaimed as she slapped a man wearing a suit before running away.

" _Maria!"_ The actor exclaimed as he ran after her.

"Ricardo, how could you do this to Maria?!" Natsu yelled at his screen as he sobbed.

"You speak Spanish, Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"No…" Which only made him cry louder. "I'm hungry, I can't speak Spanish, I never went to collage—" Lucy bit back her tongue to correct his pronunciation of college. "Lucy, I'm so stupid!" He hugged her torso tightly.

She awkwardly patted his back as he nudged into her chest. "Your boobs are really comfortable." He said before abruptly passing out. She pushed his body off of her harshly, hoping to wake him up to punish his lewd comment, but he never did, and she just decided to throw a blanket over him and just leave. After all, it's not like there's much she could do at this godforsaken party. She started her job with that little girl Wendy in the morning the next day anyway, plus she hadn't really recognized anybody else besides people from Fairy Tail, but they were either very, very drunk or in the middle of heavy sex acts she was a little embarrassed to say out loud.

She exited the room, making sure that she didn't touch anybody or anything, and made her way through the people in the apartment back to her place. She was relieved to see that the locks on her door were still intact. She went in to see that Happy had once again disappeared somewhere, but she shrugged it off and changed into her home clothes, disappointed that she only got to wear her sweater for just a little over an hour. She decided to study for the time being until she finally felt sleepy enough to rest.

It was around two AM when she heard frantic knocking on her door. She put away her books before she went to open the door. She saw the blue haired girl Natsu was making out with earlier shouldering a beat up Gray.

"Please… please help." She said.

Lucy's eyes widened as she saw bruises and cuts on Gray's body. She immediately told the girl to lay him on the bed. She took out her first aid kit, and applied all the medical knowledge she had (which were limited to papercuts and medical dramas she watched occasionally). She took a wet towel and wiped off dried blood off Gray's body, while Juvia washed her hands prepared to help in any way she could.

They patched him up. At some point through the whole ordeal, Lucy had gotten some blood on her clothes, prompting her to change into new ones once they finished dressing his wounds. She offered a clean unused shirt to Juvia to change into when she noticed that the other girl also had gotten herself dirtied.

After everything calmed down and the tension in the air disappeared, Juvia helped Lucy clean up and they began to talk over a pot of tea Lucy had made for her impromptu guest.

 **-o-**

"After Lucy arrived, Juvia went to the kitchen and drank a glass of water to sober up, then Juvia tripped when she stepped on some icing, and this guy with scary eyes caught her. We started talking for a long time and he seemed like a pretty nice person, but he started touching Juvia even when she told him not to. Gray heard Juvia and they got into a big fight. Juvia hadn't noticed that the scary guy had a knife so she couldn't warn Gray," Juvia said as she drank the tea Lucy gave her. "Ms. Dreyar told me to bring him to Lucy's apartment. She said that you would know what to do."

' _How the hell would I know what to do, Mira?'_ Lucy thought as she nodded her head to Juvia's story.

She was a little confused at first when Juvia started talking in third person, not realizing that was just how the woman spoke. Lucy thought she was talking about somebody else until she had asked who she was talking about, and Juvia pointed to herself. Gray was sleeping soundly on Lucy's bed, bandaged up.

"Why didn't you just bring him to the hospital?" She asked.

"Juvia was going to, but Gray stopped her before she could pick up the phone."

Lucy sighed, knowing that Gray would have to sleep in her apartment. She had work in five hours and she was starting to get a migraine. She drank sips of her tea and started to pull out a sheet from one of her cabinets. She laid it out on her couch, and prepared it to be a makeshift bed for herself.

"It's getting pretty late. Why don't you come back tomorrow? I'll make sure Gray's okay." Lucy said, sitting on her couch.

"Okay. Juvia will come back tomorrow. She will return the shirt Lucy gave her then. Please take care of Gray." Juvia replied, gathering her things and leaving.

Lucy buried her face into her pillow when she heard the door click. She took her blanket and readily drifted off to sleep.

"Did she leave yet?" She heard Gray whisper.

"Yes." Lucy answered, too exhausted to get mad at him for pretending to be asleep.

"…Thanks, Lucy."

Lucy didn't answer anymore because she was already in deep sleep.

 **-o-**

"Ow! Fuck, Lucy. Be more careful."

"Well, if you hadn't been so stupid to get in a fight with a guy who had a knife in his hand then **this wouldn't be happening**!" She exclaimed, voice getting louder with each word she said. She was getting frustrated with all the complaining he was spouting, which reminded her of Natsu's the night prior.

"Jeez, don't yell." He answered.

Lucy was currently replacing his bandages at five in the morning. Waking up at such an early hour plus her annoyance of having to take care of someone made her put a lot more pressure than needed when tending to his injuries. It takes her thirty minutes to get to her new employer's house and thirty minutes to finish showering and getting ready. She was rushing to be able to do everything on time.

When she finally finished tightening the last compress, she quickly made her way to her tiny kitchen to make some food to eat for herself and for Gray.

"What's the deal with you last night anyway?" She asked loud enough for him to hear, deciding to just toast some bread.

Gray didn't answer for a while, making Lucy think that he hadn't heard her. She turned around to see that he was lost in deep thought as he slouched tiredly on her bed. Irritated at being ignored, she threw a piece of bread at him. It seemed to have snapped him out of it.

"It's nothing. She was in trouble, I helped her. End of story." He said dismissively.

Lucy could feel that there was more to the story but she opted not to pry into his business. After all, she had some things that she wouldn't want to tell anybody as well. She placed his share of the food on a plate and went to take a shower after alerting him of his meal.

Lucy got out, dressed and teeth brushed. She grabbed a piece of bread to eat and, when noticing the time, got her things in a bag, and told Gray not to open the door to anybody unless it was her or Juvia, much like how a mother tells her child to.

 **-o-**

"And this is my room." The little girl said, tugging Lucy's hand to enter. She brought her to a corner where a large selection of toys sat. "These are my toys. We can play later once we finish studying."

' _Studying?'_ Lucy smiled as she watched the little girl talk to her excitedly about her toys and school. Wendy was a sweet little girl, and Lucy could tell that she was also very intelligent for her age. She had managed to get there on time with three minutes to spare, which received an impatient look from Porlyusica, whom she found out was Wendy's current nanny but was retiring so they needed someone to replace her. She was only there to show whoever was hired the ropes around the house.

"You are not allowed to enter her room unless it is to study or to put her to sleep, do you understand?" Porlyusica said sternly.

"Yes, Ma'am." Lucy said nervously.

"Don't be so mean to my new nanny, Porly. At least she won't leave me." Wendy said, sticking her tongue out. She heard the older woman sigh.

The rest of the tour was done in silence. When they finished, Porlyusica told Lucy about more information like what to feed Wendy for lunch and when to put her to bed.

"Another thing," The old woman said. "the Madame is often not around. There will be times when you are going to have to bring Wendy to school or to ballet lessons, as well as cooking and cleaning around the house, but not too much. The maid comes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday."

Lucy nodded in understanding. The older woman seemed to be hesitant in actually leaving the house once she told Lucy everything she needed to know. This would be the last time that she would ever have to enter this house, so Lucy could understand that she felt a little sad not being able to watch Wendy grow up anymore.

They said their goodbyes, and Lucy finally relaxed her tense shoulders. She heard a soft sniffing behind her and saw Wendy crying on the staircase. Lucy's expression softened. She sat next to Wendy, hugging the girl.

"Porly!" She cried. "Did she leave because I was bad? Did I do something that made her leave?"

"No, sweetie, no." Lucy mumbled, unsure of how to comfort the six year old. She let Wendy cry until she finally felt comfortable to take a nap. Lucy carried her up to her room and tucked her in. She decided to sit next to the bed and took out some books to read as she waited for Wendy to wake up with a small stone weighing on her heart.

* * *

 **Don't you just love the sight of GrayLu bromance in the (insert time you're reading) this? I couldn't help it. They're one of my favorite BrOTPs. And what's this? Juvia made out with Natsu?! *gasp* Don't worry. They were just drunk and horny. Hahaha. Did I also mention that Gruvia is an OTP of mine?**

 **Anyway, I don't think I ever thanked those who reviewed. I would like to thank everybody that took the time to write comments and suggestions. They are all greatly appreciated. I respect each and every one of your points, views, and opinions.**

 **Compucles: I understand that you prefer twelve year old Wendy, and I would like to thank you for taking the time to review. The reason why I turned Wendy six is because most of the factors of this story is greatly influenced by books I've read, movies I've watched, or things I've experienced. I was thinking of _The Nanny Diaries_ when I wrote up Lucy's new job (hence the reason why she's a nanny) and I felt a great urge to write in Wendy because I feel that she's one of the more important characters in the fandom, and I couldn't have a twelve year old in a club without any reason why. Having her as a six year old that needs a nanny seems to be one of the best I can come up with because it kills two birds with one stone. (Sorry for preaching haha)**

 **ftx777x: I would like to give some sort of props to you for reviewing twice in a three chapter story (which is a lot from what most people do). So... Props! *gives virtual brownie* \\(^ 7 ^)/**

 **To other reviews, thank you for your support and sorry I can't reply to all of you. This note is long enough. Remember to Fave and Follow. I also set up a tumblr account where I post excerpts (very fluffy might I add) from future chapters of this story, so check it out if you want. Link will be in my profile so you just go ahead and click that pretty blue button up there (or somewhere) and I'll see you all next time. Bye! :3**

 **(This chapter is dedicated to my parents' wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Guys! Hahaha. Love ya ;))**


	5. Chapter Four: Harley Davidson

**My Cat Happy**

 **Chapter Four: Harley Davidson**

"The key to writing is to get your facts straight; to make sure that whatever you put on paper is truth. This is crucial to the fact that most writers these days write what they are told to. That's completely wrong. You have to write what you know to be true and not what other people tell you what's true." A woman in her mid-thirties lectured.

Lucy mindlessly doodled on her paper as her professor walked back and forth the room while talking about the credibility of a journalist relying on what he or she writes about. It was about eight at night, and Lucy couldn't wait to go home, curl up on her couch with some takeout, and watch Clueless on Netflix. The girl that sat next to her, Levy, seemed to be aggressively taking down notes, which she felt self-conscious about. In an attempt to copy Levy's diligence, she tried to listen to the lecture but found that whenever she heard the teacher speak, her mind would wander off into uncharted territory without her noticing.

She folded her arms on her table and laid her head on them. She's not gonna be able to pay attention. Might as well take a nap.

 _Alicia Silverstone. Pretty, pretty hair. Ugly plaid blazers. You're a virgin who can't drive. Shut up, brain._ Her thoughts drifted, and for a while she was actually comfortable, until she felt a loud ringing in her things ears and a pain on her head. She looked up to see that Levy had discreetly smacked a thin notebook on her head.

"Lu, you better pay attention. Finals are coming up," Levy whispered harshly.

"But I'm so tired." Lucy complained. "Besides, this is class doesn't have that much credit, Lev, you don't have to take it so seriously."

Levy did not answer and returned to taking down notes. Lucy slumped in her seat and yawned. The second hand on her watch seemed to be mocking her since it seemed to travel slower than it usually did. She was normally studious and diligent towards her studies, but she loosened up a lot in the past few weeks she managed to live semi-comfortably. The professor, Dr. Ultear Milkovich, was Gray's adoptive older sister, awkwardly enough. She never found out until she saw Gray hanging out one day at the front of their school, waiting for Ultear.

Mercifully, the class ended and Lucy couldn't have moved faster. She packed her things, threw her jacket (which she borrowed from Kinana) on, said goodbye to her friend, and quickly moved through the halls to the outside world. As she exited the building, the cool night air flashed on her face. She hugged her jacket closer to her body. She couldn't help but notice a Harley parked against a tree with (she presumes) the owner leaning against the same tree next to it, staring at her intently with a malicious smile that she just couldn't place. She felt a chill down her spine. The uneasiness spread to her whole body and she found herself racing through the sidewalk away from the man.

She hated the way her boots clacked loudly against the pavement but she had no choice. When she got far enough that she couldn't see the university any longer, she calmed down and walked normally to her usual bus stop. There were plenty of other students waiting there so she felt relieved and felt safe. The bus arrived and everybody got in. She sat near the back by the window, away from the exceedingly large crowd at the front. She took out her earphones and plugged them into her phone. It could take her mind someplace else for at least the duration of the ride.

She pressed on her usual playlist and looked out the window, watching the trees, lights, buildings, and people blur as the vehicle's speed increased. What surprised her, however, was when a motorcycle appeared right next to the bus, exactly aligned to the seat where Lucy was. The driver had blond hair, a little lighter than hers, and a medium build. He was barely paying attention to the road as he saw Lucy with a surprised expression. He cheekily waved to her mockingly as if to say _you can't run_.

Lucy inched away from the window quickly and prayed that the bus didn't stop. It was the same man that had been watching her at the school. She increased the volume of her phone to drown out the idea of impending doom, but to no avail had she received. She was frightened and felt the need to anxiously bite her fingernails, a habit she had gotten rid of years ago. The man sitting next to her got uncomfortable with her hovering, so Lucy had no choice but to return to her former position. She caught a glimpse of the man's unruly hair before looking away.

The bus ride seemed to take longer than what was necessary and Lucy was losing patience. She turned to catch glimpses of the mystery man throughout the trip and she was never disappointed to see that he was still there mocking her. She didn't get it. Why was he after her? What did he want? Thinking this, Lucy realized that he seemed familiar in a sense, but she couldn't place where.

She turned again to the window and saw that he had disappeared. She felt a breath of relief escape her lips. They eventually got to her bus stop, just around the corner of her apartment. As she walked, she felt anxiousness creep up again in her throat which only intensified when she felt someone grab her waist and pin both her arms above her head against a wall.

She let out a screech but her assailant was quicker in covering her mouth.

"You better shut up, Blondie," She heard him whisper. She struggled to adjust her eyes from the shock and saw that it was the same man that had been following her. She proceeded to struggle harder, thrashing and letting out muffled screams. She was only silenced when she felt a cold, thin blade press up against her neck. "Are you going to keep fighting or are you going to listen to what I have to say?"

Lucy nodded reluctantly, a single, hot tear roll down her face.

"Good." He let go of one of her hands, and dragged her deeper in the alley. He harshly threw her on the ground as he took out a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it with a match. He took a long drag before handing it to Lucy.

"My name is Sting Eucliffe. We used to play together as kids." He said, smirking at her as she nervously huffed at the cigarette. "Jude—your dad, you remember your dad right?—he sent me to tell you that he has, uh, has… he's dying, or whatever." Her father had never once tried to contact her in the entire time she was gone and she returned the favor. It wasn't really much of her concern now.

"I don't remember you." She replied. Now that she thought about it, she vaguely remembered going to various parties wearing stuffy clothing, where children were brought as showcases and cast aside to a corner, and seeing a boy that she presumes was Sting.

"Well, it has been years since."

"Cut the BS. What does he really want?" At this, Sting's face grew serious. He took the cigar from Lucy's hand and took a huff himself.

"He wants to see you." He said. Lucy irately took the cancer stick back and stood up.

"You can tell him to go fuck himself." She replied coolly, walking away from the man to the nearest bus stop. The night was getting colder and colder, and Lucy's jacket wasn't enough to keep her warm. She had just about enough of this.

"He's really sick, Lucy," Stop. She paused. "He wants to see you before he… whatever. You know, I don't even know why I'm chasing down some chick at night for some cheap bastard that won't even pay me enough for gas."

"…I don't care. Sorry you were bothered in the first place, but I don't have a father. Never did." She resumed walking away from Sting shrugging and went on her way home.

She didn't care. She repeated these words until she managed to find her way home. She barely realized that she had already walked fifteen blocks, circling her street several times, and that she had accidentally bumped into people in her daze. Her previous enthusiasm of having a relaxation night was dampened by that old man.

' _Damn him. If he had actually made an effort to be a father then maybe there would have been a slim chance of a possibility that I would go see him. After what happened to Mama…'_ She shook her head as she entered the elevator. She got to her apartment and saw that Happy wasn't around so she crawled into her bed and slept as the light tapping of a drizzle against her window lulled her to sleep.

She was right. Everything was going too according to plan. Now that she had actually solved life's lemons, it throws a giant barrel of limes, kiwis, and everything that she had no idea what to do with. She should have known that having a normal life was too much to ask for.

 **-o-**

She jolted awake to the sound of thunder. The pillow she was resting on was damp and so was the blanket. It took her a moment before she realized that she herself was wet. She jolted awake and saw that she had accidentally left a small gap in her window and the light drizzle had turned into a raging storm.

Sighing, she put on her glasses, got up from her bed, and tried to turn her lamp on, realizing that the power was out. She groaned and closed the window, trying to see in the dark. She remembered that all her rags had been ripped apart by her stupid cat so she had no choice but to make do with her shirt, the driest cloth she had.

So there she was, topless, cold, irritated, and sleepless. Pitiful, really. She shivered as she felt the wind blow against her bare skin. She heard Happy's sleepy meows as he curled up on her couch. Angrily, she trudged towards the cat and shoved him off.

"Stupid cat…" She said.

Happy shrieked and clawed at her. He decided to exit her room through a window in her kitchen that led to the hallway and go someplace drier to sleep. Lucy felt much more aggravated after that. She covered her face with both her hands. She wasn't crying though. She was all cried out. She was at the point of complete lowliness that she no longer felt that crying could express how terrible she felt. She was hollow.

All the bad things, the stressful things, she was experiencing were not in her mind. In fact, she doesn't even remember what they were. All she remembered was how all those things made her feel, and those feeling balled up into one huge roll of emotions that clogged her mind from thinking clearly.

She got up and went to her cupboard, deciding to drink a cup of coffee knowing that she would never be able to fall back asleep. She found a cup, chipped and shaped like a deformed cow, and a package of instant coffee.

She sat on her wet couch with her wet self, drinking her beverage as she watched all the other things outside get even wetter than she was. This thought gave her little to no comfort, knowing that somewhere a sewer rat was drowning mercilessly in a hole somewhere in the street from the rain while she was in her apartment, wet but not drowning. Of course, comparing herself to a sewer rat wasn't much of a great comparison.

She hummed a soft tune as she pressed her cup to her lips. She remembered the first time she ever had coffee.

It was back when she was thirteen. She was in seventh grade and her classmates at that time were infatuated with Starbucks coffee and dragged her along even though it was, in her opinion, overpriced and overrated. They ordered frappuccinos and complicated orders. It was her first time, so she decided to order plain, black coffee, the same kind she saw her father drink whenever they did go out.

She hated it. It was bitter. But, after a while, she ended up actually enjoying it. She thought that the coffee-ness of coffee gave her a weird, short-term high.

A soft knock echoed in her room. Just when she was about to get up and open it, she realized that she was only wearing pajama bottoms with her boobs hanging out. Having no other choice, she put her cold shirt back on and prayed that it wasn't as see-through as she thought it was.

"Hey," It was Natsu. He was wearing a white t-shirt and yellow joggers with chili pepper imprints, and holding a candle. "I came up to see how you were doing. The power's out."

"Yeah, I know," She said too harshly than she had intended. Natsu didn't seem to notice and smiled brightly at her.

"I was thinking that we could have a mini-slumber party until the power comes back on. I have leftovers and a fireplace," He said in a sing-song voice, trying to coax her.

Lucy, deciding that going over to Natsu's was a better alternative than staying in her apartment, agreed, placing her cup in the sink, locking her door, and following him down the stairs.

"So how's your new job coming along?" He asked.

"Fine. I'm taking care of the sweetest little girl," She said, brightening up. "Her name is Wendy, and she's so smart. Natsu, if you met her, you would be amazed."

Natsu smiled but said nothing as they entered his apartment. She had only been there once before during his housewarming party, but now that she was there and there was not as much people, she could see that it was several times larger and nicer than hers. The walls were plain white. He had a flat screen TV perched on a wall with a black, leather couch faced towards it. There was a fireplace underneath the TV made of a type of blue rock. The floors were are a dark brown, and the kitchen was akin to godly.

She was impressed, surely, but her misplaced embarrassment of her admiration of her friend's house overruled it. Acting nonchalant, she entered the room and sat on the floor in front of the fireplace, not wanting to get his other furniture wet.

"Hey, Natsu, you wouldn't happen to have a towel would you?" She asked, looking down on her hands.

"Yeah, why did you spill something?"

"No, it's just—well, it's stupid really—I sorta' left my window open and got my entire apartment wet. Not to mention myself." She said.

Natsu walked over to her, now holding a bright, portable lamp. Realizing that Lucy was, indeed, wet, he blushed as his eyes gravitated towards her chest. He coughed uncomfortably as he nodded, and went to his bedroom. He came back holding a pair of pajamas Lucy knew would be too big for her.

"Natsu, you didn't have to. A towel is fi—"

"Don't worry about it." He handed her the bottoms and quickly took his shirt off.

"What the fuck, man?" Lucy asked, surprised at his actions.

"I ran out of clean shirts, okay? Jesus, you act like you've never seen a guy shirtless before." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Ugh, whatever," She relented, mocking his words childishly as she carefully put on the clothes over her wet ones. She then proceeded to take off the wet ones from under her dry ones with the magic-like way that woman often do.

"Woah, how did you do that?" He asked childishly.

"Magic."

Natsu chuckled as he began to light the fire. Once it had gotten to a point where it was strong enough to light the entire room, he turned off the lamp. He sat next to her on the floor and leaned against the coffee table that was supporting both their backs.

"That girl you were making out with at the party came to my apartment last night." Lucy said.

"Yeah?"

"She brought Gray with her. He was so beaten up. I have no idea what happened."

"Hm…" Natsu's face didn't scrunch up in worry like she had expected it to, but instead remained passive. Not in an unconcerned way, more of in like a 'this happens every single day and I'm not even all that surprised' way.

They both sat in silence, staring at the cackling fire. The smoke from the fire was fogging up her eyeglasses but she really didn't care. It was only then that Lucy realized how awful she must look like with bed hair, bad breath, no makeup. She turned in worry to Natsu but saw that he looked terrible too, so she decided not to worry about it.

"Hey, how about some of those leftovers?" Lucy suggested.

"Yeah, okay, hold on." Natsu said, heading to the kitchen. Lucy continued to sit in front of the fire, watching it intently as she heard Natsu open his fridge and move bottles around. "I have Chinese, old steak, and room-temperature key lime pie from the club."

"Pie!" Lucy said excitedly, turning around. She saw Natsu smile at her as he took out the dessert and two bottles of beer.

Natsu came back and they both enjoyed a conversation over pie and beer, playing truth or dare and poker. It came to the point where both of them were extremely tired. It was around three AM at that point. They had just finished playing an interesting round of truth or dare which resulted in Natsu stuffing his pants with a throw pillow and Lucy kicking his nuts. They were both sat on the couch with Natsu nursing his throbbing manhood and Lucy recovering from laughing too hard.

"Oh my God! I can't—I can't—hahahaha!" Lucy exclaimed, covering her stomach from the pain of laughing too hard.

"Glad you're having fun." Natsu glared.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry. I told you that you didn't have to do it if you didn't want to." She replied, wiping away a tear from her eye.

It was at this moment when both of them stared into each other's eyes. Amber to onyx. Blonde to pink. They hadn't noticed it but their faces were slowly gravitating towards each other. An inch, half an inch, a quarter of an inch, an eighth.

Burp.

Lucy laughed loudly as she threw her head back. The taste of alcohol and lime lingering in her breath. Natsu, dazed, slowly began to realize the comicality of the situation and laugh in suit of his friend.

They were friends, and who knows, one day it might turn into something more, but for now, both of them were happy with how things were.

* * *

 **TADAH! I know, I'm late. Blah blah blah. I could give you a long explanation and apology as to why but I'm not even going to bother. Basically, I joined my school's tennis team, had tests and stuff, and friend drama and blah blah. You know the drill.**

 **First of all, I would like to say thank you for each and every one of yours' comments. Especially you, Reviewer who doesn't have an account so I can't thank you properly. I legit cried when I read your review. Like omg I was tearing up like a baby getting its ass whooped. I've been going through a lot of stuff and you just made my day. Thanks, gurl, ur fab!**

 **x Gracielle :)**


	6. Chapter Five: Lumpy Potter

**My Cat Happy**

 **Chapter Five: Lumpy Potter**

Lucy snuggled deeper into her pillow. It was somehow more comfortable than it usually was—a little warmer and smelled like man. She had not really realized where she was until she felt rough stubble brush across her forehead. Her eyes shot open and panic rose in her chest until she remembered staying over at Natsu's apartment the night prior.

They were in a comfortable position on the couch with Lucy between the couch and Natsu, and he enveloping her in a large bear hug on the outside. The loose pajamas she wore were slouched all the way to her mid-thigh, exposing her red, knock-off Minnie Mouse underwear. The t-shirt Natsu had leant her had rolled up to just below her breast, and their legs were intertwined.

Lucy returned to her original position and snuggled deeper into Natsu's chest, pulling up the pajamas and pushing down the shirt. For someone who had minimal body fat, Natsu was abnormally warm. It was especially appealing since the rain that had interloped into their affairs last night was not done with pouring.

Just when she was about to fall back asleep, Lucy felt fingers tickling her sides causing her to jump up in surprise. She turned to see that Natsu had straddled her and started tickling her stomach, neck, and other places where she felt extremely sensitive to tickles.

"What're you doing, Lucy? Are you trying to sneak up on me?" Natsu laughed.

"St—Sto—op—Je—esus—Nat—Stop!" She begged in between laughter. She found an opening though when Natsu left his bare torso open for retaliation. She cleverly snuck her hand in between his arm and started tickling him back.

The two found themselves in a tickle fight, racing around the room for each other, throwing objects they deemed invaluable enough to risk breaking.

It stopped when Natsu finally caught up to her and started tickling her again. Lucy's laughs suddenly stopped coming and her movements were slowing down. Natsu let go of her. She fell on the floor, curling up into a ball.

Natsu, shocked at her reaction, felt apologetic and kneeled down next to her quickly, repeating mantras of apologies to his crying friend.

"Lucy, I'm so sorry! Please stop crying." He panicked. Lucy could only laugh through her sobs. She felt stupid for making Natsu feel bad for absolutely no reason. She must have looked insane at that moment. She turned her red-tinted face towards him while still laying her head on her arms.

"Natsu," She said.

"Yeah?"

"My father's dying." She said, giggling through her tears. She was surprised she opened up to him about something as serious as her life before moving. They had only known each other for a little over two weeks, yet Lucy felt like she had known him for all her life.

Natsu was quiet, something he never should be described as. She probably freaked him out—laughing then crying then laughing again.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm weird. It's not your fault," She said, getting up. She picked up her now-dry clothes from the floor. "I probably freaked you out. Thanks for letting me stay over. I should go—" She held on to his doorknob.

"Lucy, what are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm… I don't know." She let go of the silver knob.

Natsu came up behind her and took her hand, sitting her down on the couch. He took the clothes from her hands and threw them on the floor, crouching down in front of her so they were eye-to-eye.

"I'm no good at this…" He said shaking his head. "but, if you have something you want to tell me, and you don't have to if you don't want to, I don't care what it is, okay?" He wiped imaginary dirt off from his chin. "Heck, you can tell me you killed someone and I'll help you hide the body. Lucy, we haven't known each other long, but I want you to know you can trust me, and that I trust you."

Lucy smiled at his mini speech. She leaned over and gave him a grateful hug.

"You see…" She began. She didn't know where to start. Should she start with her mother? Or with Cana? For all her life, she wanted someone to listen to her, but now that she had it, she was at a complete loss for words. She sighed. "I'm really hungry. Mind heating up some of that Chinese food?"

Natsu raised his eyebrows, but nodded at her request with a smile. He went to the kitchen. Lucy slumped in her seat in relief, feeling pressure getting off her chest.

"Natsu, tell me about your cat." She said.

"For one, he's completely useless," He said, chuckling. Lucy smiled at his response, remembering Happy who was probably out doing whatever. "and he has a weird thing with fish."

She chuckled, "And?"

"Hm..." He thought, tapping a finger at the side of his jaw. "My dad gave me him when I was five after I broke my arm during a football accident. I couldn't play for months since I was the goalkeeper," he laughed suddenly, remembering the incident. "Damned cat. He's probably gonna drop dead soon enough."

"Don't say that. Cats have nine lives, you know," Lucy chided.

"True, but my cat is actually a person who was cursed for being such a major pain in the ass to everyone around him." Natsu replied.

Lucy laughed, and a silence ensued, breaking only when Lucy mustered up the words, "Thank you, Natsu. For the millionth time."

"Hey, what are friends for?" He replied, smiling.

"Anyway, I really do have to go back to my apartment. I have to shower and stuff. I have a little girl to take care of in two hours." Lucy said, taking a glance at the wall clock in the kitchen.

"Alright, I'll see you at Fairy Tail, maybe?"

"I'll see if I can."

And with that, they both said their goodbyes and went their separate ways

 **~o~**

Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing. The measuring scale bobbed left and right as she fidgeted up and down her heels. On a normal day, the red line would be situated right between a hundred and ten pounds and a hundred and fifteen, maybe even a hundred eight on a good day. Today was not a normal day. Today was a "Lucy-is-such-a-pig-that-she-gained-twenty-pounds" kind of day.

She self-consciously grabbed a lump of skin on both her sides, noticing a handful of fat in both her hands that she was sure wasn't there the last time she checked her weight (she guessed five months ago during a mandatory physical checkup for the gym).

She got off the scale and slapped her cheeks hard with both her hands. She quickly made her way to her bathroom where a circular mirror was positioned. She traced her eyes around her body as she turned sideways, only to see that the pudginess of her stomach accented as she slapped her bellybutton with her palm. It _jiggled_.

God, Natsu had been touching her stomach just that morning. Had he felt the pudginess of her body? Had he grasped the undeniable squishiness that is the product of her love for pie? Lucy didn't know, and with that ignorance came the anxiety of never finding out whether a man she had been mercilessly flirting with for the past two weeks had felt the disgusting extra blobs of Lucy.

Lucy felt shame. All this time, she had felt so confident about her fit figure, when in reality, each step she took caused her entire body to shake and jiggle.

From another person's perspective, Lucy wasn't fat at all. She had a model-esque, hourglass figure that most girls would kill for. However, her brain had somehow distorted the image of her body to make it seem rounder, plumper, and wider than it really was.

A groan escaped her lips. Fatty. She hit her forehead against the wall harder than she had originally intended. Great. She was fat and stupid with a lump in the middle of her head. In a moment of bitter humor, she thought of herself as a version of Harry Potter. Lucy Potter _. Lumpy Potter_. She snickered.

Lucy stood there in that position for a good five minutes in her underwear. Her hands were swinging and her feet were aching. She eventually felt a little ball of fur come up to her ankles. Knowing that it was just Happy, she left it alone. However, when she saw that instead of the soft blue fur of her cat was wiry grey fur, she shrieked loudly. It was a rat about the size of Happy. She immediately grabbed her bathrobe and ran outside her apartment with tears in her eyes. She hated rats.

She anxiously pressed the down button to the elevator several times before she heard the familiar ding. The doors opened, and she was greeted with beady eyes poring over her body. She self-consciously gripped her bathrobe tighter around her body as she entered the elevator. She pressed the number three button and waited. The man on the elevator kept looking her body up and down. Lucy inched away from the man uncomfortably. After a few seconds, the doors once again opened. She immediately exited the space, feeling the man keep his eyes on her.

She wiped whatever tears were in her eyes and knocked on Natsu's door. She heard grumbling inside. The door opened.

"Natsu, I'm so—" She was cut off at the sight of a red-haired woman instead of Natsu. The woman was wearing a fancy blouse and trousers. She had a perfectly skinny waist and long slender arms. Lucy hated her already.

"Can I help you?" The hated woman asked.

Lucy was a loss for words. She knew it was too good to be true. Natsu would never go for someone as fat as her. He liked skinny, professional-looking woman like this stupidly perfect woman in front of her. In a moment of doubt, she checked the door number and saw that it was indeed Natsu's apartment.

"Erza, who's at the—oh hey, Lucy. What's up?" Natsu asked suddenly, coming up from behind the woman 'Erza'. "I thought you had a job to go to."

"Uh, yeah, I, uh, bye," she stuttered out. She turned around quickly to get on the elevator again, but stopped when she remembered the huge fucking rat in her apartment. She had a cat. Why wasn't the cat doing anything? She turned back around and smiled apologetically at the couple (ugh, couple) under the doorframe. "Actually, can I come in? There's a bit of a problem in my apartment."

"Sure," Natsu said brightly. The two made way for Lucy. The trio then sat down in the living room.

"I'm really sorry to disturb you. You see, when I was about to take a shower, this massive rat this size," she made a motion with her hands to emphasize the rat's proportions. "curled up around my ankles, and I sort of freaked out."

"Ew," Natsu said with a disgusted face. Erza, with her stupidly perfect lips, let out a growl and elbowed Natsu's ribs hard. Lucy stifled a laugh.

"I was just hoping you might be able to come up and, I dunno, um, be a gentleman and get rid of it? For me maybe?" She asked, turning immediately to Erza. "And this isn't some sort of booty call or anything, I swear. I don't want to cause any fights between couples—"

"Ew," They both said in unison.

"Her?" Natsu said, pointing to Erza. "Ew. Luce, I think of her as my sister, wait no, my mom—wait no, my great-grandma. She is _not_ my girlfriend. Trust me. She's practically a man!" Although nodding her head in agreement, Erza smacked the back of his head when he said the latter part of his statement.

"My name is Erza Scarlet. I'm an attorney at the Coleman Firm," Erza said, holding her hand out for Lucy to shake. Lucy knew what the Coleman Firm was. When she was growing up, her father had gotten into a lot of trouble when he tried to (allegedly) launder money. All his attorneys were from the Coleman Firm and every single case that was thrown at him, no matter how shady her father had clearly been, was in his favor. Secretly, Lucy had hoped that Jude would get caught because, well, he deserved it.

Great. Erza was beautiful, smart, _and_ skinny. My, oh my, what a swell day for Lucy's self-esteem. Securing her robe, Lucy shook Erza's hand with a bitter smile.

"My name is Lucy Heartfilia. I'm studying at Brookstone U to be a journalist."

"Heartfilia? Are you related to Jude Heartfilia?" Erza asked. Lucy sighed at the sound of her father.

"Yes, he's my father," Lucy answered.

"Who's Jude Heartfilia? Is he famous?" Natsu asked.

"To meet a Heartfilia… wow. I'm sorry about his condition. Your father is a great man. He's a valued client at our firm. We make sure to meet all of his expectations for us." Erza gushed, trying to suck-up to Jude Heartfilia's daughter.

Lucy smiled at Erza's enthusiasm. Her father didn't deserve this treatment. All these people worked so hard to please him and keep him out of trouble he deserved to be punished for.

"Thank you. Please take care of my father," Lucy said, bowing her head slightly. "Anyway, can someone please help me with my rodent problem please? I'm gonna be late if I don't shower soon."

"Oh, yeah, definitely. I'll help you. We have much to talk about, Ms. Heartfilia," Erza answered.

"You can call me Lucy, Erza. No need to be formal. I think we'll be seeing a lot of each other." Lucy said, walking out with Erza. The two made their way to the elevator.

"Hey! Both of you are just gonna leave me?" Natsu whined loudly. The two women turned their heads in synchronization.

"Yes."

They giggled as they heard Natsu whine louder.

 **~o~**

"Lucy, Lucy, look at the doll I made!" Wendy exclaimed, holding out a sloppy model of polymer clay.

"Wow, that's actually pretty good, Wendy," Lucy complimented. "Are you ready to put it in the oven?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Alright," Lucy took the clay figure and carefully laid it out on the wax paper she set out on a baking tray. The little doll Wendy made actually looked human-like if you squinted. It had a purple dress-like thing and a light blue head of hair. There were two uneven black dots for eyes and a thick squiggle for a mouth. Lucy was not as impressed, but for a six-year-old, she would have to say this work was above average.

With the clay figure in the oven, Lucy sat Wendy down on a high stool. She grabbed a bag of wet wipes from a dispenser and started cleaning Wendy's face and hands.

"Can you believe it, Lucy? My school is having a play! I get to be Cinderella, and this nasty girl named Chelia gets to be my evil stepsister," Wendy enthused.

"That's not very nice, Wendy. We don't call our friends bad words," Lucy chastised, wiping off a little bit of clay from her face.

"But, she's not my friend! She's so mean. She told me my hair was an icky color and pushed me in the playground!" Wendy insisted.

"Have you told your teacher about it?"

"No!" Wendy exclaimed, jumping down the stool, stopping Lucy's cleaning in the process. "No one can ever say anything to Miss Lisa! I don't want any trouble. I don't—I don't—" Wendy ran up to her room in tears.

"Wendy!" Lucy called, running after the little girl. As she ran, she heard the oven timer beep and the door to Wendy's room slam. "Shit."

She went back to the kitchen to see that she had set the timer twenty minutes too early and corrected it. She slowly made her way to Wendy's room. She knocked on the door and waited. When there was no response, she sighed and leaned her forehead against the door.

"Wendy, I'm not going to tell Miss Lisa anything if you don't want me to," She said.

"Do you promise?" Wendy sobbed through the pink door.

"I promise. Now can you please open the door so we can finish your doll?"

"What about Mama? Will you tell her?"

"No, not unless you want me to, sweetie. Come on," Lucy lifted her head off the door and waited for Wendy to open it. The door opened to reveal a tear-stained Wendy who had mucous running out her nose.

"You're my best friend, Lucy," Wendy said as she hugged Lucy tightly. Lucy felt her heart flutter and hugged the little girl back. She kissed Wendy's temple tenderly and carried her downstairs. She sat Wendy back down on the stool and continued to clean Wendy up.

"Are you mad at me?" Wendy asked.

"No, of course not, honey. I'm not mad at all." Lucy answered, wiping off the liquids from Wendy's face. An echo of a telephone ringing grabbed both of the girls' attention. Lucy dropped the cloth she was holding and made her way to the living room where the sound was emanating from.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Lucy, hi. Uh, this is Grandine. I might not be able to come home until tomorrow. Something—God damn it, Vincent! I told you to drop it—Something came up. Do you mind taking Wendy home with you tonight? Thanks." Grandine had hung up before Lucy could tell her that she had a class to go to.

Sighing again for the millionth time that day, Lucy went back to the kitchen where Wendy had managed to sneak up to the top shelf where the cookies were, and was now chomping on a half-eaten, chocolate-chip cookie.

"Well, Wendy, it looks like you and me are gonna have a sleepover tonight at my house." Lucy said.

"Reawy?!" Wendy said with a mouthful of food.

"Go pack some clothes. And by the way, you don't get to eat desert tonight because you ate a cookie without permission," Lucy said as Wendy ran up the stairs.

The only problem now was where Lucy was going to place Wendy during her class, and the smoke coming out of the oven—oh God.

* * *

 **Hello (FROM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIIIDE), I'm back! I just wanted to say sorry for not updating sooner. Jeez, when was the last time I updated? Argh. It's just that *insert excuse here* and *insert bullshit here*. And because of those reasons, I couldn't update. I want to say thank you to stormyunicorn for your wonderful reviews. Thank you for your compliments and I'm glad you're enjoying the story ^^. I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving (which btw I celebrated for the first time ever with steak and sushi-just like the pilgrims did, eh?). I'll be sure to upload a Christmas Special soon so look forward to that ^^.**

 **Have you ever seen Grey's Anatomy? Can I just say that it is da bomb? It reminds me of Make My Heart Beat by SnowLili here on FF. You should check it out. One of the best Gruvia stories on this site.**

 **That is all, my lovelies! I'll see you in the next chapter :)**

 **x Gracielle :)**


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